ICS Advisory

AVEVA Edge products (formerly known as InduSoft Web Studio)

Release Date
Alert Code
ICSA-24-032-03

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  • CVSS v3 7.3
  • ATTENTION: Low attack complexity
  • Vendor: AVEVA
  • Equipment: AVEVA Edge products (formerly known as InduSoft Web Studio)
  • Vulnerability: Uncontrolled Search Path Element

2. RISK EVALUATION

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could result in an attacker achieving arbitrary code execution and privilege escalation by tricking AVEVA Edge to load an unsafe DLL.

3. TECHNICAL DETAILS

3.1 AFFECTED PRODUCTS

The following AVEVA Edge products (formerly known as InduSoft Web Studio) are affected:

  • AVEVA Edge: 2020 R2 SP2 and prior

3.2 Vulnerability Overview

3.2.1 UNCONTROLLED SEARCH PATH ELEMENT CWE-427

The vulnerability, if exploited, could allow a malicious entity with access to the file system to achieve arbitrary code execution and privilege escalation by tricking AVEVA Edge to load an unsafe DLL.

CVE-2023-6132 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.3 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

3.3 BACKGROUND

  • CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTORS: Multiple
  • COUNTRIES/AREAS DEPLOYED: Worldwide
  • COMPANY HEADQUARTERS LOCATION: United States

3.4 RESEARCHER

Ting Chen of UESTC discovered and disclosed this vulnerability to AVEVA. ADLab of Venustech discovered and disclosed this vulnerability to AVEVA.

4. MITIGATIONS

AVEVA recommends users upgrade to AVEVA Edge 2023, or AVEVA Edge 2020 R2 SP2 P01 as soon as possible. Upgrades can be downloaded from the AVEVA official website: AVEVA Edge 2023AVEVA Edge 2020 R2 SP2 P01.

  • Note: Log-in is required.

For additional information, please refer to AVEVA's security advisory AVEVA-2024-002.

CISA recommends users take defensive measures to minimize the risk of exploitation of this vulnerability. CISA reminds organizations to perform proper impact analysis and risk assessment prior to deploying defensive measures.

CISA also provides a section for control systems security recommended practices on the ICS webpage on cisa.gov/ics. Several CISA products detailing cyber defense best practices are available for reading and download, including Improving Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity with Defense-in-Depth Strategies.

CISA encourages organizations to implement recommended cybersecurity strategies for proactive defense of ICS assets.

Additional mitigation guidance and recommended practices are publicly available on the ICS webpage at cisa.gov/ics in the technical information paper, ICS-TIP-12-146-01B--Targeted Cyber Intrusion Detection and Mitigation Strategies.

Organizations observing suspected malicious activity should follow established internal procedures and report findings to CISA for tracking and correlation against other incidents.

CISA also recommends users take the following measures to protect themselves from social engineering attacks:

No known public exploitation specifically targeting this vulnerability has been reported to CISA at this time. This vulnerability is not exploitable remotely.

5. UPDATE HISTORY

  • February 1, 2024: Initial Publication

This product is provided subject to this Notification and this Privacy & Use policy.

Vendor

  • AVEVA